This article, published on the Transnational Institute website and signed by dozens of civil society organizations, calls for governments at the UN climate change meeting in Bali to pursue legislation and alternative low-carbon solutions--instead of international carbon trading mechanisms--to fight greenhouse gas emissions. Forests are a key part of the earth’s carbon and hydrological cycles. Without forests rainfall will fail in many regions. Increases in temperature threaten to increase heat stress and drought, causing forests, particularly tropical forests, to become net sources of emissions, rather than stores. Instead of promoting government legislation, the article states that carbon finance mechanisms hold the prospect of spectacular commercial profit in what may become one of the largest commodity markets in the world.